Letters to the editor: 2/27

Arlington Fire District must control spending

At the Feb. 4 Arlington Fire District Board of Commissioners meeting, I informed them that the Town of Poughkeepsie received at least $230,000 in late fees and penalties regarding taxes. I told them that the handwriting was on the wall, that many people can't afford to pay their taxes upfront.

Did you know that when an Arlington Fire District employee retires and goes on Medicare that the fire district will reimburse that retiree and their spouse for the monthly premium, which is at least $104.90 times two or $209.80 per month? Who do you know who gets that?

Did you know that instead of looking for a better way to upgrade the roof lights on the older SUVs that certain officers use almost as their personal cars, they instead voted to replace the lights at a cost not to exceed $19,000, so they can look as good as the new SUVs? By the way, three of these new SUVs sat for two or more years before being put into service, and now their warranties have expired. That's really thinking ahead. At the last meeting I demanded that these items be rescinded retroactively but that fell on deaf ears.

The next board meetings will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday and March 18 at the Burnett Boulevard firehouse. Try to attend. We must let the board of commissioners know that we can no longer afford this uncontrolled spending and lack of transparency to continue.

Joe Armstrong

Poughkeepsie

Friends of Seniors seeks volunteer drivers, more

Friends of Seniors of Dutchess County is a nonprofit (501c3) that assists the older adult community (beginning at age 60) with a basic support system including transportation to nonemergency medical appointments, grocery shopping for seniors who have no other means to get food, visiting services, telephone reassurance and respite for primary caregivers.

We are volunteer-based with 55 volunteers, 43 of whom transport senior citizens in their own cars. In 2012, the volunteers drove 242 Dutchess County seniors to 2,008 appointments, traveling 83,960 miles. We also provided 2,300 hours with the other four services.

Those miles and numbers do not include the LaGrange/Pleasant Valley van, which is for the seniors from those two towns only, runs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and is free of charge. Call 845-485-1277 for more information about the van.

In spite of the number of miles and hours the wonderful and dedicated volunteers have given to assist others, the demand for our services continues to increase and we are in desperate need of more volunteers: drivers, shoppers, visitors, telephone callers and/or people who can provide respite for primary caregivers. Please visit our website to learn about mileage reimbursement, insurance coverage and how we operate: www.friendsofseniors.biz. Any questions or interest in volunteering, please email friendsofseniors@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Friends of Seniors is partially funded by the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, the Margaret J. Campbell and Dorothy P. Campbell Fund of the Community Foundation of the Hudson Valley and the Dyson Foundation.

Susan Davidson

executive director, Friends of Seniors of Dutchess County

Poughkeepsie

Enforce gun laws; stop harassing legal owners

All that was accomplished by passing the new state gun law was to make the gun stores happy. Guns and ammunition are selling in record amounts like never before seen.

Good job, Albany legislators, jumping on the governor's back to ram this bill through with record speed. News flash - no part of this bill will affect the bad guys because they don't care about laws, that's why they are the bad guys! They have only made it harder for law-abiding citizens to own, purchase and use guns.

And now for the really big news flash to our legislators voting "yes" on this bill. We have by all estimates 250 million or more guns already in this country. Of that number, it's safe to estimate that tens of thousands are assault-type weapons. Tell me how your shiny new gun laws stop those weapons from being part of the next tragedy in our country?

They don't and you know it or you're not very smart. The guns are already out there in the public's hands. The horse is out of the barn.

So I guess I would just ask them to really try to solve the gun problems that we have in this country. Start fixing the mental-health system or try focusing on illegal guns. What about violence in the media? Or just try enforcing current laws and stop focusing on legally owned guns and the people who use them safely and responsibly.

Joseph Mastroeni

Hyde Park

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Letters to the editor: 2/27

At the Feb. 4 Arlington Fire District Board of Commissioners meeting, I informed them that the Town of Poughkeepsie received at least $230,000 in late fees and penalties regarding taxes.

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